A buddhist monastery in the ladakh range of the himalayas has been ignored by time. The valley's way of life has been little changed since the building was erected three and a half centuries ago. (delight).

Chemrey Monastery, in Ladakh, perches at 3000m on a rocky mound among the arid mountain tops of the Himalayas. It is surrounded by a patchwork carpet of irrigated terraced fields, but otherwise the land is a dusty desert. Pure silence enfolds Chemrey. In the village, the singing of the villagers as they collect their harvest is delicately carried on the thin air, and at dawn the monks blow long ancient horns to fill the valley with powerful low resonance.

Melted snow from higher land joyously tumbles down the river, but its sound is only ever heard when you are up close. It can take an hour to breathlessly reach the valley floor, where rectangular glassless windows frame endless views: a monk passes unheard, but in his wake leaves a line of tin-can prayer wheels slowly turning.

The monastery's dark corridors weave through huge piers which seem to have been carved from the rock itself. Completely unexpected are layers of roof terraces, and openings allowing shafts of light to penetrate the inner spaces. Sitting on the highest roof and hearing the deep rhythmic sound of chanting from shrines below transports you (as intended) to another world.

Small staircases and worn thresholds lead to rooms encrusted in generations of statues and tangkas, not to mention intricately panted walls and shelves of brightly wrapped scriptures. The monastery seems unpopulated, but a strange atmosphere reveals that you are not alone.

A plan would be almost impossible to make as there are many locked doors whose keys have been long lost and no one understands why you would wish to enter. Peering through a crack in the door of the former kitchen, bowls of flour and jars are lit dramatically from above and strewn about as though happy cooks stopped mid dish and ran to their new kitchen, leaving the old one never to be visited again.

Chemrey Monastery was built by the Tibetan Drukpa sect in 1645 as a funeral monument to Sengge Namgyal. Its structure has been added to and changed with the pattern of daily life, but the building still stands in its true beauty, altered by traces of centuries of use.